The present invention relates to the field of fabric cutters and more particularly to a device to grasp circular fabric cutters during the process of sharpening. In producing cloth-covered buttons, which are frequently required in dress-making and furniture upholstering, a preliminary step requires that a circular patch be cut from the desired fabric. Cutting is accomplished by using a thin-walled, cylindrical metal tube which has its circumference tapered at one end to form a circular cutting edge. By pressing and turning the cutting edge into the fabric, a circular cloth patch is produced. Unfortunately, both cutting of the fabric, and also inadvertent engagement of the cutting edge with the solid surface which backs the fabric during cutting, causes rapid dulling of the cutting edge. In a machine shop the cutter may be readily resharpened, for example, by mounting in a lathe chuck and dressing the cutting edge with a grinding stone. However, in a small garment or upholstering shop, and especially in multitudes of homes and classrooms where do-it yourself sewing advocates are busily engaged, the machinery and skill necessary to resharpen the circular patch cutters are absent. Accordingly, undesirable delay, and expenses, inordinately high in relation to the effort underway, are incurred in seeking out suitable skills and facilities to resharpen cutters.
A major difficulty facing a would-be cutter sharpener is that person's inability to firmly hold the cutter in a manner which assures rapid and concentric sharpening.
What is needed is a device which can be used in small shops and in the home to properly and safely hold the circular fabric cutters and enable resharpening.